Friday, August 15, 2008

FYI

If you're new to my blog or haven't stopped over in a little while I'd like to point out two ways you can score some loot:
1. Paricipate in an online scavenger hunt to win a $50 gift certificate to the movie theater of your choice. Find the details here!
2. Don't forget to comment on my Finding Stephanie blog tour post to get your name entered to win a free copy of the book by Susan May Warren.
3. Sign up to join the Pay It Forward swap right here on my blog; you'll get something homemade, give something and get to feel really good about it too!

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Lunch

I just finished up a nice lunch: Smoked turkey on whole grain oat nut flatbread with braised cherries. Fresh peaches with vanilla and brown sugar. The kids ate frozen blueberries that we picked a while back over in Greenwich and barely touched their chicken sandwiches. Little One pieced on every ones leftovers.

Seriously, I need to post something more interesting on here every once in a while. :)

Saturday, August 9, 2008

Book Review: Finding Stefanie


Finding Stephanie by Susan May Warren is touring the blog-o-sphere this week! I have thoroughly enjoyed this book--despite the distractions of my 3 little ones and life in general I just *could.not* put this novel down! There is a splendid mix of intrigue, romance, faith and inspiration set in a modern atmosphere. Susan has a fantastic way of weaving just the right amount of imagery into her tale to guide your imagination in bringing the characters to life. I think that just about any gal looking for a pleasant diversion can really get into this book. While Finding Stephanie is the third book in a series you don't really need to have read the other two books--they're all free standing and you can pick up any one and feel as though you haven't missed a beat.

Stay tuned for two exciting contests at the end of my post for a chance to win a prize!

When she put her dreams on hold to help run the family ranch, she never imagined they would slip out of sight. Luckily for Stefanie, those dreams are about to come knocking at her door.

Lincoln Cash has gained fame and fortune on the big screen, but a crippling secret leaves him one last chance to make his mark on the movie industry. With dreams of hosting a new film festival, Lincoln intends to remodel a sprawling ranch in eastern Montana to make it the new Hollywood hot spot.

Unfortunately, a house fire threatens his plans. So does opposition from his new neighbor Stefanie Noble, who's not thrilled about his Tinseltown changes. What Lincoln and Stefanie don't know is that the fire won't be the last disaster to threaten Lincoln or his future. Someone is out for revenge... but who? And who is the real target?

Read an excerpt here.

About Susan: Susan May Warren is the award-winning author of seventeen novels and novellas with Tyndale, Steeple Hill and Barbour Publishing. (She's also a fabulous teacher and fun person--we met in Dallas last year.) Her first book, Happily Ever After won the American Fiction Christian Writers Book of the Year in 2003, and was a 2003 Christy Award finalist. In Sheep’s Clothing, a thriller set in Russia , was a 2006 Christy Award finalist and won the 2006 Inspirational Reader’s Choice award. A former missionary to Russia , Susan May Warren now writes Suspense/Romance and Chick Lit full time from her home in northern Minnesota.

Grab your magnifying glass and join Susan on a Fact-o-Find!

Answer these questions about (some of) the bloggers on the tour and be entered to win a $50 gift certificate to the movie theater of your choice (you know, so you can see some of Cash's great movies *G*)! Email Amy your answers (amy@susanmaywarren.com)

Ready, get set, giddy-up!

1. Which blogger is adopting a girl from China ?

2. This word 'featherbunkle' is found on which blog?

3. Which blogger is supporting the 'Pickens Plan'?

4. Which blog is "The Cutest Blog on the Block"?

5. Which blogger is a S@HM and also a wife, daughter, sister, friend, nursery director, and woman that is just trying to keep it all together?

6. Which blogger is taking the Southern Reading Challenge?

7. Which blog asks 'How may we serve you'?

8. Which blogger refers to her son as 'super good big guy'?

9. Which blogger is a self-proclaimed 'Starbucks Addict'?

10. Which blogger is a big Trekkie?

See blog tour schedule here.


Post a comment on my blog here and be entered to win a free copy of Finding Stefanie! For those of you not fortunate to win, you can pick up your own copy online. :) Good luck, I'll be picking a winner for the book on August 18th!

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Is it REALLY Thursday already?

I don't know where this week has gone but I feel that a large portion of it was spent in the car. Monday night was a mini-marathon in the car. Tuesday was a car tri-athlon, balancing packing the van with stuff from storage and still trying to cram in the kids in their carseats. Yesterday was just hardcore! I only had 1 kid with me so I really STUFFED the van when I passed the storage unit on my way to the hospital to visit my dad. I got home so late though that I didn't get to unpack the van. The trunk is full. The back seat is full. The little aisle is packed. The seat next to the baby was stuffed. And the front seat was reserved for purchases that I had to make at Wal-STAR-mart--it got filled! :)
Now I'm wondering if I should go get ONE MORE ROUND of stuff from storage tomorrow (DH might kill me) or if I should set up my sale for the Friday early-birds. I don't know... I'm mostly selling kids stuff so I don't want the kids to watch their stuff leave and try to drag it back in the house. I might just wait for DH to entertain them on Saturday. :)
I'm off to sort and price... gotta see if the neighbors would mind if I set up in the driveway this weekend.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

What a day.

This morning started out rough; I couldn't find my glasses. After crawling on my hands and knees in the LR (I thought they might have fallen off the table next to the sofa) I put the troops to the task. Eventually (a few hours after I woke up) I found them. In the toy box. Of course.
Then it was off to Mom's and the ol' storage unit. Once at storage I discovered the key to the new lock wasn't working. And the office was closed. No problem, I just applied a little elbow grease, strained a muscle in my weak forearm and popped the sucker open. I felt like a She-Rah when I picked up a dresser all by my lonesome and plopped that bad boy into the trunk of the van. Solid oak that little bad boy was. 4 drawer with a changing table on top... but I licked the sucker.
Then off to the store. #2 had to go #2 so we stopped at the grocery store. When we got inside I realized I left my money envelope from the bank in the car so we ran back out to get it, then made a mad dash for the toilets. OUT OF ORDER. You've got to be kidding me! I got the kids out to the van (brimming with stuff from storage to put in the weekend's yard sale, hardly any room for the kids to get to their seats), buckled the critters in and took off for the next closest public restroom. Traffic was a nightmare and it took my 3 minutes to pull out onto the road... poor #2's eyes were starting to float! As soon as we got to the next store down the road we hopped out, ran to the doors, ran back to the car to get my purse, ran into the store, all the way to the BACK, into the toilets and #1 tried to budge in front of #2. I stopped her in her tracks, pants around her ankles and plopped #2 up onto the seat. We all did the rounds and I realized I'd left that dratted money envelope on the front seat of the car with my cell phone! We didn't even wash our hands, rather we RINSED them and raced back to the car.
Phew! The money was still there. OK, we headed back into the store for a few things and 45 minutes later were cashing out. Yes, forty five minutes! The amount of time I spend in stores chasing my kids and turning around to make sure they're still traveling with the herd makes me sick--like ball of dread in your stomach, feel like you're going to wretch kind of sick. After I rounded up the troops, put all of my stuff in the car, buckled the kids and returned my shopping cart to the store I realized that my keys were missing. After I'd dumped the contents of my surprisingly full purse onto the seat of the car I took note that my keys were, in fact, still missing. I just got the car yesterday. The keys are already missing. NICE.
We paraded back into the store, filled with incompetent staff who were very frustrated that I interrupted them to inquire if anyone had found my keys. Peeved that I'd asked, one woman rolled her strung out eyes at me and shook her stringy mop of hair, "Enh. Ugh." She kept squeaking out these whiny little sounds that made me think of how my daughter reacts when I tell her that her shoes are on the wrong feet. Apparently this lady didn't know that whiny noises are one of my biggest pet peeves. "Listen, they would have turned my keys in to you in the past half hour, you've got nothing?" She shrugged her shoulders, "Uh, I don't think so...? Nobody brought anything to me..."
My patience worn, I set off on foot, toddler on hip with two shopping-weary sets of sandals dragging behind me. After an hour of combing the store, the parking lot and the car I eventually found the keys in a bag of Gerber diced strawberries and bananas tucked in the back pocket of the diaper bag. That's after I checked the garbage bags. Afer I followed the trail of little bits and pieces of paper, gum wrappers and hairbands that Little One had littered about the store while pawing through my purse. Yeah, it was about 20 minutes after I realized that I was physically shaking with frustration, and angry at myself for not putting the keys in my pocket.
I got home at 7:30 and still had to cook dinner for my kids who should be in bed no later than 8. Bedtime stories done, I settled in on the sofa to unwind a little and do nothing for a few minutes. And the phone rang. Mom was choking back tears. Dad was in the hospital. Nausea, abdominal cramping, vomiting and chest pains after a simple outpatient procedure this morning.
Here I sit, typing, unable to sleep and I am sooo tired. It's hot. I probably stink. Just the sound of the air conditioner is enough to stress me out though. I feel as though every nerve in my body is standing on edge. My mind is cloudy but the stresses of the day have taken their toll on me. Just knowing that I have laundry to do, dinner dishes that I haven't washed and a worried mom, sitting at my dad's bedside fearing the worst has me taxed. I had a long day. Tomorrow promises to be long. The hour long drive to my folks' place strains my feeble brain when I don't have someone to talk to. I think too much and it drains me. I think about how great-grandma is in town and somebody needs to entertain her and my baby brother if Dad's still in the hospital. I think about how somebody needs to take Mom some real food. Somebody needs to distract her. I think about Dad, hoping and praying that he's okay. I think about my kids and how I'm going to take care of them and take care of everyone else and take care of my house all at the same time. And I think about how sometimes I just feel so inadequate as a mom, a wife, a daughter, a woman. And then I tell myself, "It's just because you're tired. Get some sleep and get your mind back on track. Tomorrow is another day to try and be a She-Rah."

New Lingo

So my middle daughter (4.5 yo) was being conversational the other evening and chatting it up with a woman and got a little caught up in what she was saying. It seems to me that she combined the words often and frequently when she very casually said, "My daddy oftenly goes to church on Sunday nights!" It was pretty cute....
My baby started singing this week. She only knows a small handful of words, one of them being the name of her very favorite cartoon character, Dora. Now she will randomly start belting out her little ditty, "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-Dora, d-d-d-d-d-d-Dora!" I seriously have to try and catch some video of it--we're talking CUTE!